Union Seeks Investigation of Mets Over Guerrero Records

By RAFAEL HERMOSO

Published: January 16, 2004

The players association has asked Major League Baseball to begin an investigation into the amount and source of the medical information on Vladimir Guerrero that the Mets used as their reasoning for not extending him a longer, more lucrative contract offer.

Union officials believe the Mets may have violated terms of the basic agreement, or possibly even federal statutes guarding the privacy of medical information, if they acquired medical information on Guerrero without his permission.

If an investigation does turn up a violation, it could lead to a grievance directed at the Mets by the players association, although the union would have difficulty proving Guerrero suffered contractually because the Mets' stance did not appear to affect the completion of his contract with the Anaheim Angels. Had the Angels backed off on their offer to Guerrero, citing the Mets' concerns about his health, the union could have accused the Mets of acting to depress Guerrero's market value.

Guerrero signed a five-year, $70 million contract with Anaheim on Monday after passing a physical examination by the team's orthopedist, Lewis Yocum.

Michael Weiner, a union lawyer, said by telephone yesterday that he had notified officials in the commissioner's office that he would put in a request for an investigation. Most baseball officials were attending an owners' meeting in Scottsdale, Ariz., yesterday.

Weiner said the union was seeking "to investigate what we perceive to be potential violations of the basic agreement." Baseball's basic agreement, the working labor contract between owners and players, allows teams to share medical information in limited cases such as trades, but a team is prevented from acquiring information from another team on a player who has become a free agent.

Guerrero, considered one of the top players in baseball, was examined regularly last season by Expos doctors while missing seven weeks with a herniated disk in his back. If the Mets had access to those reports, they would have been committing a violation. Expos General Manager Omar Minaya could not be reached for comment, and calls to Mets officials were answered with a one-sentence statement from the team: "We have no further comment on Vladimir Guerrero's situation."

Weiner will ask the commissioner's office to conduct the investigation, at least initially. "If we're not satisfied with what we hear back," Weiner said, "then obviously we'll get the chance to contact people."

Mets General Manager Jim Duquette told reporters on Saturday that the Mets' offer to Guerrero, which guaranteed only three years and $30 million, was predicated on the advice of doctors to not offer him a multiyear deal. Duquette said on Saturday that Mets doctors had access to medical reports and had had conversations with the back specialist who examined Guerrero this off-season.

After Fernando Cuza, an agent for Guerrero, said that the only access the Mets had been granted was a single conversation with Dr. Barth Green, Duquette said he had misspoken on Saturday and that Andrew Rokito, a Mets doctor, had not reviewed any reports on Guerrero and indeed had only one conversation with Green. Duquette said Rokito had also spoken with associates familiar with back injuries.

Meanwhile, the Mets yesterday reached an agreement with Karim Garcia, a more modest alternative to Guerrero, on a one-year contract guaranteeing him $800,000 pending a physical next week. Garcia, who played for the Indians and the Yankees last season, will have the opportunity to win the everyday right-field job in an undistinguished field that includes Roger Cede&#0241;o, Timo Perez and Raul Gonzalez.